


Safe Places

by opalgalaxy11



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Gen, Minor Injuries, Minor Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper, Minor Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Minor Will Byers/Mike Wheeler, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 03, Season 3 Finale, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Sleepovers, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 10:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19721707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalgalaxy11/pseuds/opalgalaxy11
Summary: "When it was all said and done, when the blood had been washed from ruddy faces and the dirty bloodied clothes had been thrown in a pile by the washing machine, when they were all dressed in something warm and the doors had been locked, everyone was fast asleep in the Byers’ living room."aka a warm, fluffy post-battle of starcourt mall oneshot AU in which everything is fine, nothing hurts, and everyone is sleeping safely.





	Safe Places

When it was all said and done, when the blood had been washed from ruddy faces and the dirty bloodied clothes had been thrown in a pile by the washing machine, when they were all dressed in something warm and the doors had been locked, everyone was fast asleep in the Byers’ living room.

They’d come home far too late, after hospital checks and police statements and stitches, a ragged band of soldiers driving through the dark, humid summer night, exhausted and beaten and ready to collapse, heads on each other’s shoulders in the back of the station wagon on the road home. Home, of course, being the Byers’, the only place they even felt ready to go to, the only home they could face. Together, of course. There was no other way.

They’d stood on the front door past midnight, sprinkled by raindrops, as Joyce unlocked the door, and they’d all filed in, stripping off bloody jeans and jackets and overshirts, yawning and rummaging in random drawers to find pajamas that just might fit.

In the bathroom, Steve had sat with Nancy while she cried. In Will's bedroom, Mike held his friend as Will remembered the events of the night, too tired to even think about what could have gone wrong. No one wanted to think about the aftermath. They didn't need to. All they needed, in that moment, was a little bit of extra love. All they needed was rest. 

Hopper put the kettle on the stove and cracked eggs into a pan. Johnathan started pulling mattresses off of the beds, extra pillows from the cabinets. Everyone ate, everyone washed up, everyone got forehead kisses from Joyce and reassurances that they were safe. In the bathroom, everyone’s blood washed down the sink, one by one, ice packs on black eyes and split lips. Every bandage was used, every piece of gauze taped to an arm or an elbow or a particularly nasty face scrape. Tonight, Hopper and Joyce decided, every one of these kids was their child. Tonight, they were all safe.

When the rain was pouring harder and the moon had disappeared behind clouds and everyone had full stomachs and clean clothes and painkillers coursing through their systems, they finally laid down, let their tired muscles finally rest.

Blankets and mattresses had been pulled from every bed and cabinet and basket in the house. Pillows littered the floor, sleeping bodies piled in, next to each other, a tangle of arms and legs and chests that rose and fell in a rhythm, fluttering closed eyes and the soft muttering of a deep dreamer. 

Mike - dressed in Will’s old pajamas, an arm flung around an exhausted Eleven, who was cuddled into Max, sleeping soundly.

Nancy and Steve on the couch, his head in her lap, both in oversized t-shirts and plaid pajama pants. Her hand on his shoulder, running through his hair as he slept fitfully. 

Leaned against the recliner, Dustin - his head firmly planted on a snoring Lucas’s shoulder. Jonathan, next to Will, who was holding Mike’s other hand, head resting against his best friend’s back, feeling the steadiness of Mike's sleepy breaths.

In the master bedroom, Joyce and Hopper, curled next to each other, grateful for the warmth the other gave. Grateful to be alive. Grateful for the home they rested in, the kids they still had to hold, the fight they’d finally won.

Outside, the rain pounded the roof, the windows, the grass. The rain, washing away the night, washing away the demons and monsters and pain, all of the moments they’d wondered if they’d make it home.

There was nowhere any of them would want to be but together.


End file.
